First Week In

I've squeezed a lot of learning into one week. Not so much in content but I've learned a lot about myself.

There's little I hate more for myself than failure. I don't know anyone who likes it. This week, I chose failure over compromising what I believe. I'm not talking about just being right. It's a deep belief, the center of my beliefs...that God is the center of everything. I learned that I would rather fail than agree with someone who doesn't share that core belief.

My time management skills are less than desirable. It's isnt poor management but I lack balance. When given a task, I pour myself into it and disregard everything else. I spent the first four days of this week holed up in the house, leaving only twice. Sure, I wasn't feeling well. But I didn't do much more than school work and sleep. I didn't eat right, barely showered and let dishes and clothes pile up. I'm hoping after the first week overwhelm is over, I can start to balance a bit better.

I can lovingly disagree with people I care deeply about and it's not the end of the world. I talked to several people about my major before enrolling. My school has two Christian counseling programs. One is psychology and the other religion. Only one person recommended the psychology route. She's definitely one of the most influential people in my life, so that's the choice I made. After a lot of prayer and the first weeks experience, I changed to religion. I believe that is the area where my biggest need lies.

My end goal is to partner with a church and do lay biblical counseling. I don't have any plans to do deep psychological counseling. While I will happily walk alongside people with various disorders, my calling is to point people to Christ. The greatest possible joy for me would be to watch the Lord work in people's lives during their struggles.

Despite my poor grades, I'd consider this week a success. Anytime I can learn so much about myself, it's been a good week.